Update 3
Hours in: 45
Level: 97.02
Still no deaths! And got lvl 97 at 43:40!
Defiance vs Holy Freeze Merc
Through 96.8, I was just cranking out the runs with the same gear and setup, but with 3ish hours left in lvl 96, I wanted to test if I thought defiance or holy freeze merc was better. I'd used defiance through the whole journey so far.
So first some theory. I ran some chance to be hit calcs to see the influence of defiance, and its worth about 8% DR when active, which of course is nice. However, holy freeze is worth 40ish% DR if active. So that's obviously a lot more. However, the potential downsides with HF that I see are:
- potentially slowing down killing in general from slower monster movement speed
- the color making it harder to identify boss packs
- the fact that it takes a second to chill a pack, whereas defiance is always working, once the merc has activated it, so less safety in that event
So for point number one, I just didn't think this would actually happen. It makes sense for a run where you're trying to kill the whole screen (so basically cows). But when you're clearing a pack whose group starts out about as big as your hammer area anyways, I just didn't see this making a difference. However, I figured why not just test it. That will give me an idea of how good each merc aura feels as well.
For number 2, I just don't think is a big deal for p8 CS exp. I would never run HF on an mf character where quickly identifying boss packs is key. But on this run, you know where the two most important ones will be always, missing a pack here or there doesn't affect exp/hr much at all, and you have time to mouse over adjacent packs while you're spamming hammers on the seal bosses. But once again, just testing should show a decrease in exp/hr if there is one.
As for number three, this isn't really tested when just running each for a while. So it's more like an extreme limit-state risk analysis. So it's like what are the chances that I make a horrible tele into a dangerous pack (likely de seis's back after lvl 97), that they kill me before they are chilled from HF, and that defiance would have saved me. I think that's entirely possible, but just too unlikely to consider, and plus holy freeze also helps pin down extra fast de seis.
Anyways those were my thoughts, now time to just test it. I rerolled my good 2 seal map in order to hire a HF merc. Then just so happens the first map after returning to hell as even better than my previous one lol. Anyways I ran this holy freeze merc for an hour and a half and got
4320 xp/s. Then I hired a defiance merc from hell difficulty to run for an hour and a half
on the same map for appropriate comparison. For those defiance merc runs, I got
4149 xp/s.
These results are well within the bounds of just regular variability, but for what it's worth, I actually do think the holy freeze merc sped up killing a bit. I think maybe the enemies stay in one spot getting put in fhr from your hammers longer. And the runs were generally more comfy, which can ofc speed them up a bit.
So final conclusion is that hdin is OP and is great with either one, but I now say that, in my opinion,
HF merc is the best choice.
Finds
Runes: gul, pul, mal, mal, um, ohm, ist
Noteable s/u: gris shield #6, eth guardian angel, wisp projector #3 (10/12
)
(the number next to item is the number I've found across all characters)
Skillers: 7 (captain, expert, fungal, hexing, mentalist, preserver, shogu)
7mfscs: 2 (one with 2 mana)
Still none of the sur-jah runes I'm hoping for, put this stint at least really picked it up on the rate of the mid runes drops, so that was nice!
Also found my best ebug opportunity for exile base I've found yet, to disappointing results (will be in the screenshots)
Thoughts for 97-98
So first thing I did after getting lvl 97 was do like 50 runs of my good ole 2-seal runs on that nice map. This just for comparison data for when I test runs including de seis and diablo. The result of that was 6.2 million exp/hr, which I was very pumped about. That's a projected 43 hours for lvl 97-98. On my untwinked sorc, my
top end exp was under 5 million, and with the two deaths I had with her, the lvl took me 65 hours 0_0. So this is looking MUCH better.
However, I am assuming that I will be running all 3 seals and diablo, since it's just been pretty consistent that it's been better for the last few 99er hdins by others on the SPF. So that will make de seis the most dangerous threat by far in my opinion. Also, I think some more plus skills will probably help more for telestomping him and for killing diablo. So I
think I want to run the maras hotspur setup. Slightly less life than the other two setups I tested, but not much less, and the most +skills of the setups I tested. And I thought the 90 fire res felt substantially better than the 80 fire res plus dwarf star of the wateralk maras setup while killing infector. We'll see if I miss rising sun too much, but I respec'd to that setup.
Additionally, for the de seis telestomp, I definitely want the merc to wear fortitude to hit de seis harder. And I also want him to wear vamp gaze, since I've found in the past that he dies too often to de seis's minions otherwise, even as I babysit him a bit. Plus andy's is the other obvious options, and I don't love the -fire res on it for his durability vs infector. So the coh + steelshade merc is likely in the past, and i'll mis his absurd durability when venom lords are around. Also, using a might merc is perhaps a good idea for this for even more dmg on the de seis telestomp, but I won't be doing that. I want as much safety advantage from the merc as I can get, and plus the slowdown for catching extra fast de seis is at least worth something in terms of speed.
And I think I'll do vizier seal first since now with no rising sun, I'd say he's the least dangerous boss, so that will make sure HF is procd by the time I fight infector which should help a little bit, just from less melee dmg, as well as when they attack or move it will longer periods between inferno casts.
New Map
So now that I had tested the two seal runs and respec'd to the new maras setup, I needed to roll a map for 97-98.
And this map rolling time IS of course going on my overall timer. So I didn't want to spend an absurd amount of time on it. Trying to capture most all the time involved on the character. I wanted at least 3 shrines in rof/cs, ofc a y-shaped vizier layout, and also want a right-corner-seal de seis layout. I VASTLY prefer that orientation for de seis's wing since the spacing just always seems to be much more consistent and safe. I consider a t-shape infector layout to be a slight benefit, but not mandatory at all when looking for a map with this much stuff. Anyways my approach for rolling a map was like this:
- reroll till i get a shrine next to the rof wp (tele backwards once to check)
- then check to see if its y-vizier layout
- then check for a right-corner-seal de seis layout
- if all three of those are yes, then tele back though looking for more shrines, and if there are at least 3 shrines total, keep the map
This took around 25 minutes to get a keeper. It's not as good as it could be since it two tele's backward to check the first shrine, which I don't like, and there are exactly 3 shrines total (was hoping to luck into 4 total). But I think it will do, and I don't want to waste too much time rolling maps. I checked the a1 waypoints as well, and there are 3 shrines close to the cold plains waypoint. So anyways I think its a decent keeper, but if anyone who's done this type of running before (
@ffs @PhineasB @Bewitch) and has any advice on other stuff to look for, and whether or not I should be content with this map, definitely let me know.
So after hitting 97, the 2 seal test runs, the respec'ing, and the map rolling took me almost to the 45 hour mark. So I did a couple of other practice runs and that brings us to here. Next update I expect to have a lot of comparison data for different running strategies for xp in lvl 97-98. Like I said, I'm already pumped at sub 45 hours projected from those 2seal test runs, so no matter what happens, should be great. I'm feeling very motivated on this character and want to make good progress, so I might just keep pushing hard on him till 98 before taking a break and playing other characters, but we'll see how it goes. Hope everyone is well, cheers
!